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#7. Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize? (Saanika R.)


Junior’s varsity squad ends up winning the rematch against Wellpinit High, but Junior soon realizes that his team may have just deprived those Indians of what little opportunity they had. After celebrating his 40 point win against the Wellpinit Redskins, the protagonist recognizes that “[He] knew that two or three of those Indians might not have eaten breakfast that morning...seven or eight of those Indians lived with drunken mothers and fathers…[he] knew that none of them was going to college. Not one of them” (Alexie 195). Junior also knows that “Rowdy’s father was probably going to beat the crap out of him for losing this game” (Alexie 196). Junior realizes that for some of these Indians basketball wasn’t only a sport, but perhaps their ticket to success in life. Or for Rowdy, a way to stay out of trouble. When Reardan beat Wellpinit High, those Indians lost whatever hope they had for a future and what was probably their only chance to be recognized. Junior cries, ashamed of himself for taking away the opportunities of Indians who are already in poverty.

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  1. AnonymousNovember 13, 2017 at 4:39 PM

    This is so good! You connected the quotes to the question very well.

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